Getting Around Waterloo Region By Bicycle

Commuter Challenge 2012 – Waterloo Region

I’m really looking forward to this years Commuter Challenge. It actually started today (June 3) and runs untilJune 9th. It is a fantastic national celebration of alternative transportation.

Folks throughout the Region of Waterloo do an amazing job making it a regional celebration with the kick off happening tomorrow from 4.30pm to 8pm at the UW School of Pharmacy at the intersection of King and Victoria in Kitchener.

I’ve signed up and am looking forward to chatting with like minded kin about the hopes and dreams we all share transportation san l’auto.

In addition to the chitchat at 6pm there’s the keynote presentation by Hans Moor. He will speak about Cycling in The Netherlands, about Citizens for Safe Cycling’s efforts in Ottawa and what we can learn from the Netherlands and Ottawa. You can sign up for the event at Sustainable Waterloo’s website.

There’s a number of other events through out the week as well:

Tuesday: Grand River Transit will once again hold 2-for-1 Transit Tuesday. Pay for one full fare and your friend, co-worker or family member can ride for free. Check out grt.ca for details.

Thursday: The City of Kitchener is hosting its third annual Great Commuter Race. The City is challenging members of Kitchener City Council, local celebrities, City staff, as well members of Kitchener’s Cycling Advisory Committee to a six-kilometre race from Fairview Park Mall to Kitchener City Hall. Three transportation modes will be promoted: Carpooling in a Toyota Prius, cycling and GRT’s iXpress.

#BCounted: From Monday to Friday, the Region, the City of Waterloo and Miovision Technologies Inc. are teaming up to count pedestrians and cyclists using the Iron Horse Trail. A local artist will track numbers with a large spray chalk graph drawn directly on the trail. I’m going to go out of my way to check this out each and every day! (Melissa Durrell’s site had a good blog post describing this).

4 thoughts on “Commuter Challenge 2012 – Waterloo Region”

Don’t forget that the Bike2Work Challenge with the City of Kitchener, Google, Desire2Learn and Communitech also kicks off today at noon in downtown Kitchener. I’m lucky enough to be a part of the 12 chosen to ride for a month!

I hadn’t even heard about this challenge :) You up for doing a few blogs about it? Everyday for a month is commitment (not to mention habit building). Didn’t you move further away? How far’s your commute now. (Also you heading to the kick off tonight? You do work 2 minutes away).

Brendan — are you going to cross post on Waterloobikes – good intro yesterday? Interested in what kind of contract you signed :)

What happens if you get hurt on a bike given to you by teh city from Ziggy’s and it’s due to city infrastructure or something? I’m also surprised there’s not more info regarding liability on the contest blog site. Or waht if a contestant feels pressured to join because of their role at their company and gets hurt? I’m sure a lot of lawyers have been involved … in fact I think a few may be from a law firm.

Great concept – should contact ctv and make it a show, in fact I’m going to contact a few friends I have at CTV here in town.